Where to Recycle Electronics in Louisville, KY

Did you know that according to the Consumer Electronics Association, each American household owns about 24 electronic devices?

What are you going to do when all those computers, televisions, cell phones, and game systems start breaking and become outdated?

Are you going to kick them to the curb? We hope you don’t! There is another way to get rid of your broken or dated devices – electronic recycling.

What is Electronic Recycling?

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is the trash that is produced from broken or obsolete electronic products. So rather than toss it in the trash or throw it in a dumpster, you can participate in electronic recycling so that all or part of the electronics can be repurposed or reused to make new devices. When you do this, you are not only eliminating harmful waste from Louisville landfills, but you are also helping build brand new devices!

We have broken down the different types of electronic recycling and where you can drop off your electronics in and around the Louisville, KY area.

Battery Recycling

Many batteries and rechargeable batteries can be recycled. These can be found in home electronics, cars, boats, and trucks. The recycling process will separate the different metals inside the battery, break them down, and these can later be used to create new batteries or added to other metal products.

Here is a list of the specific types of batteries that are recyclable according to Battery Solutions:

Lead Acid – this is found in car batteries

Alkaline – AA, AAA, C, and D batteries contain alkaline

Lithium-Ion – this is found in rechargeable batteries for small electronic devices

Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) – these are rechargeable batteries used for portable computers, drills, camcorders and other small battery-operated devices requiring an even power discharge.

Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) – these are similar to nickel-cadmium batteries except that they use hydrogen instead of cadmium.

Lithium Batteries – these are non-rechargeable batteries typically found in electronics and medical devices.

Mercury Batteries – these are the small button batteries used in laser pointers and Christmas ornaments

Zinc-Carbon – these are single use batteries commonly used in remote controls, flashlights, clocks or transistor radios

Zinc-Air – commonly used in hearing aids and watches

Cell Phone Recycling

If you have a phone that is in good working condition and is relatively new, consider donating it first. Many Louisville area non-profit organizations collect phones to raise money or give to those who cannot afford a phone at all. Be sure to erase all your personal data first! If the phone has seen better days and taken its last breath, then recycling is a great way to reuse the metals and plastics inside the phone to make new phones or other products.

To recycle a cell phone, you can trade them in when you purchase a new phone, mail them in to specific recycling programs, or simply take it to an e-waste recycling center in Louisville, KY.

Computer Recycling

When a computer is recycled, it is first evaluated to see if it’s still in working order or is beyond repair. If it’s still usable, the hard drive is destroyed and the rest of the unit is either sold for spare parts or for scraps. Recycling a computer is an excellent way to conserve energy and prevent valuable parts from being trashed.

An additional option you have is to recycle the motherboard separately. You can often do this for cash because this component contains gold. To do this, open up your computer (carefully!), remove the motherboard, and take it to a gold refiner or an electronic recycler who will offer some cash in exchange. You can also take your computer to a local electronics store for help in removing the motherboard.

Television Recycling

While sitting in your home or apartment, televisions are harmless. It is when they enter a landfill that the real trouble begins. When a television is left to the elements in a landfill, it begins to break down and rot, which causes all sorts of harmful chemicals to enter the soil, like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and barium. Today, most states have laws in place to prevent televisions from ever entering a landfill.Kentucky is not yet one of them, but many of the state’s landfills have chosen on their own to refuse televisions.

There are local facilities that will reuse the tv components for either scrap or sell the parts that are still in good condition to make new televisions. For example, all Best Buy stores have a recycling program regardless if you bought the television from them. With all the recyclable materials inside a television, recycling is the only option.

Wire & Cable Recycling

Take a second and think of all the electronics in your house. Each one of them uses cables and wires to operate. The miles and miles of cords you have in your house are all recyclable!

Since Louisville, KY does not accept wire and cables in curbside pickup, the best way to recycle these items is to take them to an electronics recycler. Once there, the copper, brass, steel, plastic, and rubber components are separated and cut to different sizes and lengths and sold off to be used in all other electronics.

So the next time you recycle your DVD player or laptop, be sure to take the cords with you!

Don’t Throw It Out, Recycle It!

Electronics have made life so much easier in so many ways. With researchers finding more and more uses for recyclable electronics, it would be silly not to recycle. So the next time you have an electronic device that has seen better days, be sure to take advantage of one of the many electronic recycling centers in Louisville, KY.

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